When I receive approval -- get patted on the back -- my mind tends to process and reprocess that praise. You said in your talk, Deep Spiritual Magic, "The next time you start to suffer over something, Don't let your mind talk to you about it. Your mind will try to reduce it down into something it can deal with." I sense that the same principle applies with being happy about something -- as in...

Recently, several people connected to me have had been diagnosed with serious cancer. This of course saddens me. I have an accompanying fear of "what if someday it happens to me?" I thought I grasped the teachings about how the physical means very little, and that living and dying are one in the same, but after experiencing an unusual minor discomfort I have yet to have diagnosed, I attempted...

My difficulty is that, according to "dog eat dog" biophysical laws in which we live out our lives in the physical, every positive and loving action has an equal and opposite reaction -- a sort of hell of angels! And that it's logistically impossible according to these physical laws, to "first do no harm" -- our core value on a soul level. Rather, we are obliged to play the role of heart-shat...

Most of the popular spiritual/new age/people giving advice on how to manifest the life of your dreams etc, are telling us that we need to imagine and dream and 'think positive thoughts' to be able to manifest the life we deserve. We are told to construct 'dream boards' and to feel the excitement of our desires as though they have already manifested. Can you help me understand this a little bet...

Lately, I have noticed a growing sense of desolation...as if I am wandering through an endless, dry desert. My days seem utterly empty of anything important. Indeed, the whole world looks this way to me. Sometimes it feels as if I have come to some plateau where all is meaningless, and above it there is nothing more. Sometimes even the mountains look...unbeautiful. What's happening to me? (...

Question: I often overtalk in conversations and am working hard at engaging in give-and-take conversations where I say a few things and then stop and wait so the other person can give a few of their thoughts. To do otherwise can lead to excited talking non-stop, which sounds selfish. What can one do to remedy overtalking?

My mother died this year and I have never felt such agony of grief. To say I am tortured in my misery would be an understatement. I admit that I neglected my mother and I accept responsibility for that. But even if I dedicated the rest of my life to serving others, it wouldn't compensate for the suffering I caused her. It is a given that I should not take my life. For me to try to alleviate my...

I work consciously every day with many of your suggestions to overcome inner resistance, doubts, etc., but I have one problem I don't know how to crack... as a 7 year old kid I developed juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Until age 21 I followed medical protocol but since then I have wanted to work with this illness mainly as an emotional, energetic problem. Twenty years later I have had mostly go...

I have walked away from an abusive relationship and pain medications as well as the subsequent physical and psychological withdrawal. Every morning when I wake up, I am met with dark voices that tell me life is meaningless. Panic sets in and the fear is wrecking my body. I cannot go back to the life I had but I seem unable to find faith and hope for a higher life. I know this old self must pas...

I can't seem to reconcile something within myself... I understand the acceptance of the incoming moment. I also understand that for every want there has to be a "don't want." Does having a "preference" fit into the equation? If so, how? For example: I notice a growth on my eye and go to see a doctor. The doctor tells me that I have to have surgery to save my vision. I accept the incoming momen...

I once had ample quiet time and meditated regularly. I grew and was more grounded. Now I live in a big city with neighbors all around me. It's loud, and the noise can be obtrusive and disturbing. I know we must participate and not isolate, but how can I let this go? How can I know if this disturbance and lack of focus is just a lower level of myself that I can and must learn to work through, o...